


Give, Don’t Take

by maxxeoff



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: ... kiiiind of, Canon Compliant, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post TWOTL, Post-Canon, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:15:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25928731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maxxeoff/pseuds/maxxeoff
Summary: Will Graham gives in his relationships. And he gives. And he gives.Until Hannibal.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 13
Kudos: 165





	Give, Don’t Take

Will has always strived to please his partners in bed, and, of course, in general. 

This might surprise many people, seeing as Will has such an abrasive personality, words laced with barbs. But that’s just his defense mechanism. 

Because of his way of thinking, and maybe because of what he suspects to be asperger’s, Will has never been accepted by his peers. Or, for that matter, authority figures. Or anyone. His father certainly wasn’t the loving and supportive parents his schoolmates seemed to have. 

Maybe it’s just him. 

So Will deflects. He builds barriers. He wields his words like weapons to keep himself afloat. He tries to be quiet, and when that fails, he infuses his words with acid to show he’s not vulnerable. 

(It only makes him feel more vulnerable.)

His inflammatory nature further keeps people from getting close to him. Good, Will thinks. Now they can’t hurt him. (They still hurt him.)

Dogs are the only people who understand him, and they love indiscriminately. They don’t mind that he thinks about death, and that his words are unkind. So he surrounds himself with his furry friends when he has the capacity to do so. He does his work as a cop, then with the FBI, pisses people off regardless of the work he accomplishes, and goes home to his dogs. 

He’s lonely. 

He probably deserves to be lonely though, given the places his mind goes. Where, at times, his hands itch to go.

When he does get close to someone, it’s initiated by the other person. He knows immediately if they’re there to use him or study him. And he lets that happen, because what else would he do? He wants to be good.

As for intimacy, most of the sex Will has had is perfunctory, done because both parties found each other attractive. When he’s slept with people, he would do whatever made them most comfortable and happy. Girlfriends were seldom, and always short. None stay when they learn more about his work. (He never lets them know about his mind.)

It’s more surprising when someone is interested in him for _him_. Sometimes someone would approach him with a type of friendship, and Will would tentatively accept it. That always ended due to a lack of effort on all sides. Alana had one of these friendships with Will, and like the others, never got too close. 

Especially after he kissed her. 

Will cares about pleasing people. He feels what they feel, after all, and wants them to be happy. When Alana rejects him, it hurts, but he goes with it because it’s what Alana wants. He wants to be good. Even if it hurts. 

He doesn’t understand why Margot came to him (until later, of course), but he does his best to please. If she wanted it, he would give it. He knows she can’t be happy with him, but she asked, and he does his best. What he wants doesn’t matter. 

And Molly. Sweet, good, funny Molly. The woman who got the closest to his heart. She became the light of Will’s life. Light that he could never find in himself, despite all the good he’s tried to do.

Molly sought to please him, too. She took control, raked her hands over him in bed. Sought out his pleasure from places he’s never touched. It’s the closest Will has felt to happiness, to true pleasure. But even then, he couldn’t let himself go. If he’s taking pleasure from her, she must receive it in return or the transaction isn’t complete. He needed to please her more than anything. (What if she left him? Where would he be then?)

The more she loved him, the more he accommodated to her, bent himself in the ways he knew she’d appreciate, although she would never voice it. He didn’t share his darkness. He didn’t bring up his old work. He loved her son, moved in with them. Shared his dogs. Fished with them. Provided.

He always did it for them, never for himself. Who was he, to seek _more_? Molly chose him, after all, so he has to give back. No, this was enough. 

Until Jack beckoned him back. Until the dragon demanded his attention. Until he needed to see Hannibal again. 

And he’s thrown back into the folds of darkness that he never left, really. Hannibal’s grasp has always been around his neck, how could he forget? (He didn’t forget. He just lied.)

Molly is hurt, and now Will can never go back to the family he joined. To the softness there. She would let him, but he might as well have shot her himself. Pursued her in the night. Listening to Hannibal’s words of guiding poison.

So Will pursues the dragon. He must go down. It’s personal. Hannibal made it personal. 

And they kill the dragon, and Will feels _alive_. More so than when he killed Abigail’s father, or Hannibal’s patient.

Hannibal.

Hannibal is right there, accepting him in his darkness. Listening to him. Knowing him. Loving _all_ of him. 

Will is overwhelmed with the feeling of _right,_ even though he knows it’s wrong. He holds Hannibal tight, knowing he can never let go again. So he throws them off the cliff. 

Hannibal saves them. Drags them to shore. He’s always had a zest for life, unlike Will.

Hannibal brings Will somewhere hot and foreign, and oversees their recovery.

Here, where it’s hot most of the year and he can fish whenever he wants, where Jack can’t drag him to a crime scene, Will breathes. He finds a stray dog, and then two. 

For the first time in his life, Will feels free. Unburdened by what others think of him, if he’s doing the right thing. He can listen to _himself_ , now. To his heart. To Hannibal. Because he and Hannibal are one; they have merged. 

When Hannibal takes him for the first time, it’s on the floor one night after dinner. Both of them are aching and desperate. And Will doesn’t hold back. When he wants Hannibal’s knife against his sternum, he begs for it, allowing his voice to go as breathless as he feels. When he needs Hannibal to go harder, _he’s not porcelain, dammi_ t, he wraps his legs tightly around strong, lean hips, and pleads. He takes Hannibal’s mouth again and again, and when they both need air, he keeps taking. They shake together, gasping.

It’s easy with Hannibal. Complete. 

Will is fulfilled. 


End file.
